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ROBIGA´LIA

ROBIGA´LIA a public festival in nonour of the god
Robigus, to preserve the fields from mildew, is said to have been instituted
by Numa, and was celebrated on April 25th (Varro, L, L. 6.16;
R. R. 1.1, 6; Fest. p. 267; Plin. Nat. 18.285). A procession was made to the grove of
Robigus (or Robigo, according to Ovid and
Columella), five miles out of Rome on the Via Claudia (Cal.
Praen.), where sacrifices were offered by the Flamen Quirinalis, a
sheep and a dog, fancifully explained as averting harm to the crops from the
dog-star (Ov. Fast. 4.907sq.;Col. 10.342; Fest. p. 285). It is probable that
the deity Robigus represents Mars Rusticus (Cato, Cat. Agr. 141; Tertull. de Spect. 5; Mommsen,
C. I. L. i. p. 392; Marquardt, Staatsverw.
iii.2 p. 574).